Portable lectern



Oct. 2, 1962 R. w. BRoKAw, JR 3,056,230

PORTABLE LECTERN Filed March l. 1960 FlG.l

Q Q INVENTOR ROBERTS WYCKOFF BROKAW,JR,

ATTORNEY United States Patent Orifice 3,055,230 Patented Oct. 2, 19623,056,230 PRTABLE LECTERN Roberts Wyckoff Brokaw, Ir., Wiimington, Del.,assigner to E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, Dei., acorporation of Delaware Filed Mar. l, Het), Ser. No. 12,036 1 Claim.(Cl. 45-121) When presenting visual material to an audience,particularly material in the form of charts, a speaker is at adisadvantage in that he must turn his back to the audience in order torefer to the charts. If the speaker does not wish to turn away from theaudience, he must carry any notes needed on separate cards or papers andthe manipulation of such cards is often inconvenient, noisy, distractingand time consuming, thus disturbing the continuous flow of the oralpresentation. In many cases, oral presentations must be made inlocations which are not regularly equipped for such use `and a portablelectern is desirable. Also, when the charts for visual presentationVmust be transported, it is desirable to have the charts bound together.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel portablelectern which is collapsible and foldable into a compact unit.

It is a further `object of this invention to provide a portable lecternhaving pages bound together in such a manner that said pages may berotated about the means of binding of said lectern.

It is a .further object that a means be provided whereby the speakerusing said portable lectern will have notes concerning the audience,visual material being presented available to said speaker, which noteswill not be visible to the audience.

These and other objects will become apparent in the followingdescription and claim.

This present invention is best defined by reference to the accompanyingdrawings. FIGURE l shows the portable lectern having a series of pagesin the assembled position as it is used. FIGURE 2 shows the unit in anunassembled position. yIn the figures, a is a series of pages boundtogether to c (the top portion of the lectern) and to d (the frontsection of the lectern) by binding means b which may take -several formssuch `as plastic or metal rings and a plastic or a metal spiral helix orcoil-type spring. Any means of attachment is suitable which allows thepages zz and the top section of the lectern c to rotate about an axisparallel to and approximately coincident with the edge of the frontsection of the lectern d to which they are attached. The side sections eand f of the lectern are attached at edges g by a cloth hinge or anyother suitable means which allows them to be rotated from the positionshown in FIGURE 1, through the position shown in FIGURE 2, -to aposition wherein they are folded over each other and the front section don the top side of the unit as orientated in FIGURE 2. When the sidesections e and f are `folded over the yfront section d, the top sectionc and pa-ges a may be folded over the side sections forming a compact,rectangular unit covered, on the outside by side c and d, which isconvenient for carrying. To assemble for use, the folded unit is tirstopened to the position shown in FIGURE 2. The sides e and f are thenfolded back to the approximate positions shown in FIGURE 1 and the topsection c and pages a are folded back over the side sections andattached by sliding `tabs h into slots j. Many other means of fasteningsides e and f 4to top c are possible than h and j and any suitable meanscan be used. Returning to the folded form involves reversing the stepsof assembly in the order heretofore described.

In use, the speaker starts with all of the pages a in position atop thetop section c. As a page is presented, it is rotated about b until ithangs parallel to the lfront section d. IOn the back of each page exceptthe first, at k, is a short rsum of, or notes concerning, the precedingpage then being presented. The exact loca- 'tion of k is unimportant andmay be varied to suit the individual using the unit. Note that the notesat k are not visible to the audience, and may be prepared beforehandwhen the charts are prepared, and require no manipulation on the part ofthe speaker.

The absolute dimensions of the unit may be varied considerably to suitvarious purposes. The relative dimensions are, however, important. Thus,sides e and f can be no wider than the front d lif the unit is tot befoldable to the compact unit described. Although the top c may besomewhat larger than ai,` it is ygenerally most convenient -if c isabout the same size as d. The pages a may vary considerably in sizealthough, if the unit is to be used as shown in FIGURE l, the pages acannot be longer than the front d and, for purposes of folding into thecompact carrying unit described, the pages a should also be no widerthan the front d. It is also convenient if the pages a are narrower thanthe distance between the slots j. The slope at the top of sides e and fmay be varied somewhat and thus the slope of the top c of the assembledunit. However, it is obvious that if the unit is to be used as shown inFIGURE 1, the outer edges of `side e and f must be `shorter than theedges attached t-o the front d. The unit as described has no 4backopposite to side d in FIG. l. Such a piece could be included byattaching a piece of the proper size to the outer edge of either e or fbut a back is neither necessary or desirable in the present unit.

The speciiic representative example of the novel lectern set forth inthe drawing, FIGURES 1 and 2, is one wherein the top, front and sidesheet sections are heavy cardboard with side cloth hinges and a plasticcoil hinge at the top; .the page units `are of heavy white paper.

All of the components of this invention, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 arenecessary with the exception of the notes at k. While these notes are aconvenience to most speakers, there are those whose capacity of memorywould enable them to remember all the material on the pages withoutconsulting notes.

It is, of course, clearly understood that the novel portable lecternheretofore described and hereinafter claimed may be made of any typematerial which can be assembled to function in the manner described andclaimed. Representative materials include pressed composition board,tempered masonite, cardboard, metal sheets, plastic sheets andreinforced sheets of more flexible materials such as leather, variousplastics and fabrics.

'Ihe hinging means which may be utilized in applicants novel lecternencompasses a wide variety of materials 4such as flexible tapes, bothplastic and fabric types (properly secured), various types of metallicand plastic hinges, such as continuous or intermittent spiral hingeunits, and other types of hinging means which one skilled in the artwill be readily cognizant of. In the specific embodiment of the presentinvention as represented in -the accompanying drawing, the front, top`and side sheet sections were fabricated from heavy cardboard; clothhinges at the -side and a plastic coil spring at the top, the sheets ofpaper being heavy white paper.

As many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, i-t is to beunderstood that this invention is not limited to the specificembodiments thereof except as defined in the appended claim.

The embodiments of the invention in wh-ich an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

A portable lectern foldable into a compact unit, said lecterncomprising, in assembled form, a top sheet section hinged to a yfrontsheet section, the side edges of said front section having hingedthereto supporting side sheet sections `of a width no wider than saidlfront section, the upper edge of said side sections slanting downwardlyfrom the ytop of said front section to the rear of said side sections,`the upper edge of said side sections having means for fastening to saidtop section, page units being superimposed on said -top section andhinged Where :said top section is hinged to said front section, saidpages being no wider and no longer than said front section.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Plant;Jan. 12, Simmons June 26, Ziemmerman Apr. 23, Geyzer Jan. 14, Novak July31, Hummel Dec. 6,

FOREIGN PATENTS Switzerland Jan. 14,

Great Britain Feb 26,

